


Hazard

by jesthejester



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Crushes, Developing Relationship, F/M, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Multi, Nerdy Flirting, Romance, Science Boyfriends, he deserves a hug and someone who understands him, i just love bruce banner, no mention of gender of reader :)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29563842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesthejester/pseuds/jesthejester
Summary: The Avengers are sent to assess a situation, that situation being an explosion with a single person at the center of it; you. When you wake up, still very much alive, you find yourself being studied by a certain Dr. Bruce Banner. You find he's the only one who makes you feel human in the wake of your so-called accident. You can't help but want to return the favor.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Reader
Kudos: 12





	1. Splat Ball

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter will be divided into different povs based on time stamps, hope ya like :)

_ 12:58 PM _

“So, are you gonna tell us why we’re here?” 

Everyone glances towards Director Fury, who’s standing with his back turned in front of the control station. He sighs, and spins around. 

“Since you asked so politely, Tony,” Fury nods to Hill, who pulls up what seems to be a photo taken from outside an abandoned building. 

“A week ago, we got a tip from an asset on an organization using this building as a base for their work,” He points to the photo. 

“Their work being experimentation on humans with the intent to create another super soldier,”

“Great,” Rogers mutters. 

“We blocked out a perimeter and infiltrated their security cameras. Today, we captured this footage,” 

The screen changes to that of a drone hovering above the building. For a minute, nothing happens. Then, the quiet image shatters, the building appearing to explode outwards. As soon as the explosion spreads, it reverses, pulling itself back together, leaving behind wreckage and smoke. 

“This is what we managed to get from before the blast,”

The camera changes to a view from inside the building, staged in the corner of a hallway. It captures a person in a hospital gown being restrained by multiple people. As they thrash, the camera picks up on a strange glow, and everyone around them appears panicked. One of the men beside them staggers back, and suddenly all of them scatter. Just as the person comes into view of the camera, it ends the footage abruptly. 

“Sorry, what exactly are we meant to be seeing?” Tony asks. 

Fury just stares back gravely. “Tony, what do you think was the root of that explosion?”

“Oh, you know, let me think. An explosive?”

There’s a moment of silence before Banner hesitantly speaks up.

“You think it was the person, don’t you?”

“So, what? We have an exploding person on our hands? Guess what, they exploded. Problem solved,” Stark leans against the desk and crosses his arms. 

Bruce runs a hand through his hair, wheels churning in his head. 

“How does that explain the secondary implosion?”

“I mean, you have to admit, it did look like it was, you know, coming back  _ together _ in a sense,” Romanov adds, glancing at Fury. 

“Like some kind of splat ball?” Tony mutters. 

“What?”

“Nevermind, Cap,”

“No, I wanna know,”

“It’s a kind of toy, you know, it goes splat and then comes back together,” Bruce interjects. “Do you think that’s possible that they managed to...engineer some type of device that can do that?”

“You’re the scientist, Dr.” Fury responds, raising a brow. 

“I wouldn’t think that would be possible, but…” Banner wrings his hands and shoots a look at Tony, knowing if any of them would know, it would be him. 

“With the right resources, possibly years of data and a genius like me, it could happen. Either way we’ve got a burning building full of unstable individuals and criminally sophisticated cons,” 

“Anyone feel like a plane ride?"

* * *

_ 1:39 PM _

“Any sign of life?” Natasha asks.

Bruce sits wide-eyed in front of the coms and screens inside the jet. 

“Only one,”

“Well, that gets rid of most of our problems,” Tony mutters. 

“Not necessarily,” Bruce gestures at the heat signatures from inside the building. 

“Here’s the epicenter of the blast, where the person was standing when they effectively “blew up”. That’s where I’m getting the most readings,”

“Basic knowledge, Banner. Bomb goes kablooey, the room gets hot,”

“That would be right, except it’s...well, it’s moving. Like a person,”

“You mean it’s walking?” Natasha stands up, walking over to the screen.

“Well, more like stumbling,” Tony admits. “Seems like it's trying to get out,”

“Let's meet it at the door,"

* * *

_ 1:36 PM _

Your palms hit the concrete with a hard thump, shredding against the wreckage strewn about the place. You struggle to push yourself up, your movements sluggish. Your limbs feel heavy, and your vision slides in and out of focus. You can’t seem to figure out what you’re seeing, nor where you even are. 

Heat surrounds you in a cloud, and what’s left of your clothes are burnt and smoking. If there was a building of sorts it’s destroyed, chunks of glass and rubble are all you can see in the smoke. Smoke...A fire? Before you can finish your thought, a tremor sends you sprawling on the ground. You can feel an impact, but something...something is missing. There’s no sound. You sit up, but still all you can hear is a ringing in your ears. You bring your hands up to your ears, relieved to feel they’re undamaged. That is, until you pull your hands away and see that your fingertips are wet with blood. You panic, scrambling up and limping your way along the ruins of a wall. You have to get out, have to find help.  _ Have to find help,  _ you repeat to yourself, even as you choke on the smoke, even as you pass bodies. So many, too many, all covered in soot and rubble. You don’t stop to see if they’re alive, something inside telling you that it’s hopeless. The smoke gets thicker, and you pick up your pace. Just as dread starts creeping into your stomach, you stumble out into a clearing, the sun shining into your eyes and blinding you. You throw a hand up, blinking away dirty tears and slowly looking around. 

A desperate sob leaves your mouth, seeing people all around you. A rescue crew! There’s a small plane behind them, no doubt to put out the fires. Relief bubbles up and you go take a step forward, a grin on your soot-covered face. Taking another look around, you pause. Since when did rescue crews point guns at survivors? You cock your head in disbelief. Something must be wrong, they must be confused. There’s been a fire, they need _firefighters_ not weapons. Why would they need weapons? There’s nothing wrong with you. Their mouths are all moving, and a group of people steps out from the cover of the plane. They look at you with gazes filled with caution and contempt. Your heart beat picks up, and you shuffle backwards.  _ There’s nothing wrong with you, right? _ They’re shouting, but you can’t hear them over the ringing. Your hands shoot up to cover your ears, the incessant whining sound getting louder. It feels as if your insides are buzzing with energy. Panic rises in your chest, and something burns. You freeze, looking down at yourself. It’s all over you, burning everything. But there’s nothing on you, no flames, only a hum of heat and a strangle glow. Your eyes widen as you watch your skin starts to split. You try to scream, but it tears at your throat. The last thing you see as you crumple is a flame-filled sky, and then your vision goes black. 


	2. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some sad realizations

9:00 AM the next day.

“Are you sure it’s okay to go in there?”

A quiet murmur stirs your cloudy mind.

“Their levels have completely stabilized as far as we know. The best thing to do right now is to keep them calm. Trust me when I say it's best not to leave them alone right now,”

A heavy door shuts and quiet footsteps approach you. Your eyes flutter open and you attempt to sit up with minimum success. You’re wrapped in bandages and IVs pepper your arms. Beside you sits a man in a folding chair, his elbows propped up on his knees as he watches you.

“My name is Bruce Banner. I’m your doctor, for now,” His voice is softer than you’d expected.

Your eyebrows furrow as you wait for the ringing to overtake it, but all is quiet after he stops speaking.

“What’s your name?”

You stare at him, watching the way his eyes crinkle at the corner as he asks you something. What did he say? Your name? What’s your name? A name surfaces from somewhere, and your lips form a word.

“Cal,” You whisper, looking around the room.

It’s small, with no visible entrance. The walls are smooth and made of something you’ve never seen before. The hospital bed that holds you is attached to monitors and bolted to the ground.

“Do you know your last name, Cal?”

Your eyes flick back to the man, Dr. Banner, he said.

“Irvine,”

He smiles hesitantly at you.

“Well, Cal, how are you feeling?”

"I'm..." You freeze. “Where’s, where's Bonavich?”

The name leaves your mouth before you can remember who it is. Bonavich. An image of his burned body is seared into your mind. He’s dead. They’re all dead. The fire...Where are you? The men with guns are the last thing you remember. No, not the only thing. Your skin crawls.

“How am I still alive?”

His face changes, turning solemn. “We don’t know,”

He stands up, pausing before reaching for the bandages on your shoulder.

“May I?”

You nod. His hands gently pull the cloth away from your skin. You expect to have to look away, but what you see just makes you look longer.

“When we recovered your body, it was in charred pieces. Now, your skin cells are not only undamaged, they appear to be undergoing mitosis at a rate that’s impossibly fast,”

He pulls aside a part of the blanket covering you, and reveals a stretch of your calf, pink and shiny like a baby’s skin.

“Your legs were the last to heal. Do you have any idea why?”

You stare at the exposed skin, dazed, trying to remember.

“They said it was because my legs were the first part of me hit by the blast,”

His worried eyes flick to meet yours and he drops the blanket corner.

“What blast, Cal?”

“The landmine,” You tell him. “I stepped on a landmine last year. My friends, they died but…”

“You survived it,” Dr. Banner finishes. “Did this, Bonavich, say he would help you?”

You nod slowly. “Did anyone survive the fire?”

Dr. Banner sits back down, leaning forward to look you in the eyes once more.

“Cal, do you remember what happened before the fire?”

What? You think back, back to the morning. Breakfast, meds, tests…

“Something was wrong with my meds that morning, and they were scared. I, I got too hot, I think, because,” You stop.

They gave you something that you weren’t meant to have, a syringe of something white. It burned your insides, so much you started screaming. You felt like you were coming undone, dissolving, breaking into pieces, just like in the courtyard. And then you got up, and everything was on fire, and there was so much smoke...You had assumed there was a fire. A sad smile tilts the corner of your mouth. You stare down at your hands, watching them shake.

“There was no fire, was there?”

“No, there was no fire,” He says gently.

“Bonavich told me that, when he found me in the field, he told me that my body swallowed the energy, and that it would have to let it out someday,” You murmur. “But...Well I guess that doesn’t matter now. That’s why you have me in here, right? So if I explode again I won’t hurt anyone?”

Dr. Banner sighs and runs his hands through his hair.

“Yes, that’s right,” “So,” You glance around. “Why are you here then?”

“Because this cage was built for me,” He responds, a pained look on his face.

You stare at him, sitting beside you, looking at you with the most honest eyes you’ve seen for a very long time. For a second, those eyes make you forget everything. That second doesn’t last long enough, and when you remember, it’s painful enough to make you want to look away.

“Can you explode too, Dr. Banner?” You attempt a laugh, but it only makes you feel worse.

“Something like that,” He smiles back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

You go back to looking at your hands, his words squeezing your heart.

“Well, at least I’m not alone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh sad :( dw I'll make the next chapter happier as I develop their chemistry


End file.
